Free To Do As I Choose?

Doesn't freedom mean that I can choose to do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do to it? Which reminds me of time under the strict rule of my 8th grade math teacher, who happened to share the same last name(no relation), that I was was reprimanded for talking in class. The consequence for getting in trouble in this class was writing out the following sentence 100 times, "I will do what I am told to do when I am told to do it in Mr. Davies classroom from now on." The consequence for not completing the said punishment was to multiply the 100 sentences by 5 and if the 500 hundreds sentences where not completed you where to meet with the headmaster for a final judgement. So I received an in-school suspension where I was bored out of my mind and stared at the walls for the entire day. In this instance I was clearly in the wrong, I did not do what I should of done even though I felt like the punishment did not fit the crime. What gets a little more difficult in life as a follower of Christ is dealing with decisions in regard to Christian freedom.

Christian freedom can be described by looking at 1 Corinthians 10:23-31 where we learn "All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful", "let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor" and "whatever you do , do all to the glory of God". Within Christian Freedom we are no longer slaves to the law, it is not through what we do or don't do by which we are saved. It is through the Spirit and the work of Jesus Christ and his death, burial and resurrection in which we have been bought with a price and freed from our due consequence. Romans 6:4, 1 Corinthians 6:20 and 2 Corinthians 3:17

Now being bought with a price we no longer belong to ourselves, we are now sons and daughters of a Holy, Righteous, Just, Gracious and Loving God who is to be the foundation for every decision we make. Paul teaches the church in Corinth using the example of what believers should do in regard to eating food that had been offered to idols, most of us don't deal with that issue on a daily basis but we deal with choices in regard to other items we eat, what we drink, what we wear, what we pierce, what we tattoo, what part of our body we alter, how we spend our time, how we spend our money.....

As Paul guided the church in Corinth the Lord guides us to take the following into consideration as we make choices on what some may consider the more gray areas of Christian living. When faced with these choices it is best to reflect on Paul's teaching and ask yourself the following.

• Am I bringing glory to God in this? (1 Corinthians 10:31)
• Does this seek my own good or that of others? (1 Corinthians 10:24)
• Am I endangering myself to a harmful addiction? (1 Corinthians 6:12)
• What does my good conscience, inward integrity of the heart, say? (1 Timothy 1:5)

Freedom seeks not itself but the will of the Father who graciously gives it.

-Matt